Levelland contamination site on tap for superfund cleanup

A mile-wide groundwater plume in the Ogallala Aquifer that threatens drinking water in Levelland has been added to the National Superfund List for federal cleanup money, officials said Friday.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission proposed the listing in July after officials found contaminants in a public water supply well.

The new status means the site qualifies for federal funding, although an amount has yet to be determined. Levelland is the first West Texas site to be added to the nation's superfund list since 1994, when the Pantex plant near Amarillo was listed.

Superfund was established in 1980 as a means of investigating and cleaning contaminated ground, air and water sites across the nation. As a rule, the EPA gives money to state agencies, which manage cleanup projects. Texas now has 35 superfund sites.

At the Levelland site, officially added to the list Oct. 22, the toxic chemicals 1,2-dichloroethane and vanadium were found, either singularly or in combination, in 30 groundwater wells near Levelland, according to an EPA written statement.

The EPA and TNRCC have collaborated to install and maintain filtering systems for 20 of those wells.

The mile-wide plume, or path of contamination, extends for about two miles, east to west, along Texas 114 west of Levelland from the former Motor Fuels Corp. property to the city park.

''Because the city's water wells are down gradient from the contaminated plume, they are considered at risk for contamination,'' the EPA release states.

While the EPA has yet to officially name a responsible party, city officials aiding the federal agency in its investigation said an old oil refinery may be the source of contamination.

''All the fingers point toward an old refinery in that area,'' Assistant City Attorney Rick Osburn said. ''It was there from the '30s through I think the '50s.''

Prior to the creation of modern environmental standards, he said, it is believed workers dumped petroleum byproducts in a nearby playa lake environmentalists now know playas aid in the recharge of aquifers sending contaminants into the Ogallala Aquifer several hundred feet below.

Over the past 40 years the plume has been slowly migrating toward the city of Levelland's water wells. The city pumps about a third of its drinking water from the Ogallala.

Vanadium is a metal found in the Earth's crust and in rocks, some iron ore, and crude petroleum deposits, while 1,2-dichloroethane is a solvent typically used to dissolve grease, glue and dirt, and it is commonly added to leaded gasoline to remove the lead.

City Attorney Richard Husen said that while the toxins are a potential threat to public health, they are not an imminent danger.

''It's not something that is spreading with a velocity such that something's going to happen tomorrow,'' he said.

Donn Walters, an EPA spokesman in Dallas, said the agency will encourage the city and county to form a communitywide committee and hire a liaison, with money provided by the EPA, to keep them abreast of the situation.

He said the EPA will continue its investigation into the plume for another one or two years before holding a 30-day public comment period. During that time, officials will determine a cleanup cost, Walters said. The TNRCC will have the lead role in the cleanup.